Bookkeeper called hero for preventing school shooting

Bookkeeper called hero for preventing school shooting

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga.- A school bookkeeper is being called a hero after calming the suspect who brought an AK-47 to an elementary school Tuesday.

Officials say 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill showed up in a front office, armed with an AK-47 and 500 rounds of ammunition.

The school bookkeeper, Antoinette Tuff, said she ended up alone with the suspect and spent nearly an hour asking him to put the weapon down.

She said, “I realized at that time that it was bigger than me. He was really a hurting young man. So I just started praying for him and just started talking to him and just allowing him to know some of my life stories and what was going on with me. And that it was going to be okay and then let him know that he could just give himself up.”

Hill eventually surrendered after firing several shots at police, who then returned fire.

Fortunately, no one was injured.

Authorities say the suspect slipped into the school behind someone who had access to the building.